How high above the field are the top rows of the upper decks at RRS, if you can find out? The highest documented seats above the field at any stadium I can find are at LSU, but I found a board post from an LSU fan who said he thought the top rows at RRS were as high or higher than the top rows at Red Stick (which are reportedly 167 feet above field level). The guy who said they were 167’ said he used to work in the LSU athletic department and had access to the stadium plans.
I’ll see what I can find out. Having been at both stadiums several times, LSU’s stadium looks like a taller strutcture. I don’t know how tall Tennessee’s stadium is, but the press box is definitely the highest in the SEC. It is at the top of the stadium and you kind of feel like you’re about to tip over.
After going to my first LSU game this past season, I was actually talking with my buddy about this. I told him there’s no question that Tiger Stadium seems like it is twice as wide, from sideline to sideline compared to RRS where I feel like I’m on top of the field. But that I felt RRS was taller, and definitely more steep making it feel so close to the field to me, compared to Tiger stadium, which is just massive. I felt like it was probably significantly wider.
I’ve been to BR a few times and I agree, but the difference could be that the RRS field is below street level and LSU’s isn’t (with the water table their field would be a permanent pond if they had sunk it below the surrounding terrain). Plus that post from the LSU fan that he thought ours was higher made me wonder.
Top level at Kyle Field is apparently way up there as well. I got a question on Quora, what was the tallest stadium, which prompted this research.
Tiger Stadium is also really steep. The same guy who provided the 167-foot figure said the top of the lower bowl is 89 feet above the field. I don’t think the top rows of the lower level at RRS are anywhere near that high, but RRS then throws in two levels of clubs and suites before the upper deck starts.
From the seating chart at the LSU website, there are about 65-67 rows in the lower bowl and 32 in the sideline upper decks. I think RRS is about 60 rows below and 22 in the UDs. Being the stadium geek that I am, I’ve actually taken a tape measure into RRS for a spring scrimmage, and the rise for each row in the lower deck is about a foot above the one in front of it.
It’s steep, but doesn’t feel as steep.
It could also be just the massive size of it that kind of takes that away, or where I was sitting.
I was in the lower bowl, toward the top, close to a section of club seats, and I felt like I was a mile away from the field, laterally more than vertically, even though it’s probably just as high, vertically maybe more, like you said.
Seems like I remember back in the day hearing how Amon Carter at TCU has the highest press box. But that was before the massive expansions to a lot of stadiums. And wouldn’t necessarily equate to being the tallest stadium anyway.
I heard the same thing, Scott. But their PB isn’t on top of the upper deck any more. When they redid Amon Carter, they put the new press box below the upper deck as it is in RRS. As seen here:
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I’ve also heard something somewhere that the upper rows at the Horseshoe at tOSU are very high as well, but not sure if it challenges LSU. Although their upper deck apparently has 41 rows. A bigger upper deck will make your stadium much taller because upper decks have to be steeper so those fans can see the field.
Just read that tOSU is redoing portions of their stadium which will actually decrease capacity by 2000 or so by 2020. It will still be 102,000+.
Texas seems to be really high on the press box side, had seats seven rows from the top in the old Astrodome and it was a long way to the field, players looked like midgets.
I sat in the Astrodome upper deck a few times for Astros games as well. It was spread out horizontally because of the baseball configuration as well as vertically. The top of the roof in the Astrodome is 208 feet above the field, not that far above the height of the top row at LSU.
The west upper deck at Texas is actually the top level of an 11-story campus building, Bellmont Hall, which includes classrooms and recreation facilities as well as the athletic ticket office, and at one time housed all the athletic offices. If I recall correctly the stadium press box is like the sixth and seventh floors of Bellmont.
I’ve been to a couple of games in Athens GA and the first one was in 2005 when Darren was a freshman. We sat in the upper/upper deck about 4 rows from the top. That was the highest point I’ve ever been in a stadium. You could smell the jet fumes.